Blog: A Nothing Burger, a Fig Leaf, and $1.4 Trillion

President Obama is punting the issue of a $1.4 trillion deficit and a $12 trillion debt to a lame-duck commission, according to this must-read post on The Heritage Foundation blog. As the author notes, you don’t really need a commission to know where to make spending cuts—how about starting with those bank bailouts, the $787 billion stimulus program, and the proposed $849 billion health care bill? As for the commission itself, it has no enforcement mechanism and its recommendations are due to be voted on in a post-election, lame-duck session when back-room sweetheart deals are more likely to be made, according to this poster. No wonder Republicans have called the commission a ‘nothing burger’ and a ‘fig leaf.’